ABSTRACT

The Sarvastivadin propose to define samskrta-dharma as a dharma whose essence namely, svabhava consists of the four marks namely, laksana of all conditioned things: arising, abiding, decaying, ceasing. The Sarvastivadin's non-resistant rupa is of two kinds: vijnapti-rupa and avijnapti-rupa. Impermanence, non-self and duhkha - the three marks of all conditioned things according to the earliest Buddhist texts - all converge into this one 'characteristic' Alterity means impermanence. Buddhism, properly understood, can abide no conservatism, since there is nothing stable to hold and conserve. The Sarvastivadin next tries to argue that nama-pada-vyanjana are independently real substances. The Ch'eng wei-shih lun refutes this. In response to a proof text offered by the Sarvastivadin, the Ch'eng wei-shih lun responds 'this Sutra doesn't say that different from rupa, citta, caittas, there exists a real callednama'. As phenomenologists, the Yogacarins insist that the only rupa of which one can speak is phenomenological rupa, which is to say, rupa that occurs within consciousness.